A number of Kuwaiti citizens and expatriates expressed their dissatisfaction about being deceived in car repair garages particularly those on Canada Dry Street and the surrounding areas.

A Kuwaiti citizen Bu Hamad cited an incident he faced in this regard, explaining that the air conditioner in his car had once broke down and the mechanic of a garage told him the compressor had to be changed and it would cost KD 170.

However, when he checked with another garage, the mechanic there told him the compressor was working well but just the filter had to be changed which would cost KD 30.

Another citizen Abdulrahman Al-Azmi stressed the need for strong surveillance over garages, lamenting that most mechanics take advantage of the customers’ lack of knowledge regarding cars and exaggerate when analyzing the problems. He revealed that a mechanic once told him the fuel filter in his vehicle needed replacing. When he bought a new filter and checked the old one, he discovered that it was in very good condition.

Umm Huda said mechanics often take advantage of customers, particularly new drivers or owners of new vehicles. She elaborated an incident that occurred when she was a new driver. The mechanic told her that many parts of her vehicle needed to be replaced.

However, she later found out that he had taken the original parts and replaced them with fake parts. She went to a police station and filed a case against the mechanic and eventually he had to pay her KD 200 in order for her to withdraw the case.

Mohammad Abdulati affirmed the widespread prevalence of cheating in garages and even spare parts shops in Kuwait. He revealed that he had once bought spare parts that he was told were original but he later discovered they were fake.

Another time, he had refilled the gas in the air conditioner of his vehicle and paid KD 20 for original gas. But, one week later, he discovered the air conditioner was releasing hot air and got the gas checked to discover it was Chinese-made fake gas.

Meanwhile, Abu Salah is the manager of a garage that repairs cars. Stressing that not all garages cheat customers, he advised the public to choose a trustworthy garage and deal with it alone. He indicated that the costs of repairing vehicles are usually high because the owners of garages have no choice, as they have to pay very high rents for running the garages.